Teethhttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/teeth
en-usTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:39:27 -0500Tue, 03 Mar 2015 15:39:27 -0500The latest news on Teeth from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/high-tech-toothbrush-2015-1This Smart Toothbrush Will Tell You What Parts Of Your Mouth To Brush More Real Timehttp://www.businessinsider.com/high-tech-toothbrush-2015-1
Sat, 10 Jan 2015 11:33:00 -0500Devan Joseph and Associated Press
<p><span>Kolibree is demo-ing an updated version of its smart toothbrush at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The device is able to link up to a smartphone to tell you which areas of your mouth have been brushed through a mapping system.<br></span></p>
<p><em>Produced by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/author/devan-joseph" title="Devan Joseph">Devan Joseph</a>. Video courtesy of Associated Press.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow BI Video:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/bi_video" target="_blank">On Twitter</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/high-tech-toothbrush-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/why-birds-dont-have-teeth-2014-12How Birds Lost Their Teethhttp://www.businessinsider.com/why-birds-dont-have-teeth-2014-12
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:48:00 -0500Laura Geggel
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/548f6df26da8113e26a72522-575-662/archaeopteryx-feather-fossil.jpg" border="0" alt="archaeopteryx feather fossil"></p><p>Birds — like anteaters, baleen whales and turtles — don't have teeth. But this wasn't always the case.</p>
<p>The common ancestor of all living birds sported a set of pearly whites 116 million years ago, a new study finds.</p>
<p>In the study, researchers looked at the mutated remains of tooth genes in modern birds to figure out when birds developed "edentulism" — an absence of teeth.</p>
<p>Ancient birds have left only a fragmented <a href="http://www.livescience.com/37781-how-do-fossils-form-rocks.html">fossil record</a>, but studying the genes of modern birds can help clarify how the bird lineage has changed over time.</p>
<p>"DNA from the crypt is a powerful tool for unlocking secrets of evolutionary history," Mark Springer, a professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside and one of the study's lead researchers, <a href="http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/26133">said in a statement</a>.</p>
<p>Modern birds have curved beaks and a hearty digestive tract that help them grind and process food. But the 1861 finding of the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/24745-archaeopteryx.html">fossil bird Archaeopteryx </a>in Germany suggested that birds descended from toothed reptile ancestors, Springer said. And scientists now know that birds <a href="http://www.livescience.com/47128-shrinking-dinosaurs-evolved-into-birds.html">evolved from theropod dinosaurs</a>, carnivorous beasts such as <a href="http://www.livescience.com/23868-tyrannosaurus-rex-facts.html">Tyrannosaurus rex</a>, which had a mouth full of sharp teeth.</p>
<p>But no one knew exactly what happened to the teeth in the evolution of these animals from then until now. "The history of tooth loss in the ancestry of modern birds has remained elusive for more than 150 years," Springer said. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/40569-foods-healthy-teeth-bad-breath.html">8 Foods for Healthy Teeth</a>]</p>
<p>In the new study, the researchers wondered whether the bird lineage lost its teeth in a single event, meaning the common ancestor of all birds did not have teeth, or whether edentulism happened independently, in different lines of birds throughout history, the researchers said.</p>
<p>To find out, they investigated the genes that govern tooth production. In vertebrates, tooth formation involves six genes that are crucial for the formation of enamel (the hard tissue that coats teeth) and dentin (the calcified stuff underneath it).</p>
<p>The researchers looked for mutations that might inactivate these six genes in the genomes of 48 bird species, which represent almost every order of living birds. A mutation in dentin- and enamel-related genes that was shared among bird species would indicate that their common ancestor had lost the ability to form teeth, the researchers said.</p>
<p>They found that all of the bird species had the same mutations in dentin- and enamel-related genes.</p>
<p>"The presence of several inactivating mutations that are shared by all 48 bird species suggests that the outer enamel covering of teeth was lost around 116 million years ago," Springer said.</p>
<p>The researchers also found mutations in the in the enamel and dentin genes of other vertebrates that don't have teeth or enamel, including turtles, armadillos, sloths, aardvarks and <a href="http://www.livescience.com/47075-pangolin-photos-scaly-mammals-threatened-with-extinction.html">pangolins, which look like scaly anteaters</a>.</p>
<p>The closest living modern reptile relative of birds is the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/14363-alligator-image-gallery.html">alligator</a>, Springer said. "All six genes are functional in the American alligator," Springer said.</p>
<p>This tooth finding is one of many that came out of a large-scale scientific effort to study the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/49098-new-bird-family-tree.html">evolution of birds</a>. The findings of that effort were published today (Dec. 12) in the journal Science, and in several other journals.</p>
<p>Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/laurageggel">@LauraGeggel</a>. Follow Live Science <a href="https://twitter.com/LiveScience">@livescience</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience">Facebook</a> &amp; <a href="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts">Google+</a>. Original article on <a href="http://www.livescience.com/49109-bird-teeth-common-ancestor.html">Live Science</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/46989-feathered-dinosaurs-images.html">Images: These Downy Dinosaurs Sported Feathers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/14707-embargoed-pretty-bird-images-clever-parrot.html">Pretty Bird: Images of a Clever Parrot</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/15540-birds-prey-photos.html">In Photos: Birds of Prey</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Copyright 2014 <a href="http://www.livescience.com/">LiveScience</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-bird-fly-in-a-v-2014-7" >Why Birds Fly In A V Formation</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-birds-dont-have-teeth-2014-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/candy-rots-your-teeth-2014-10The Horrible Things That Happen To Your Teeth When You Eat Candyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/candy-rots-your-teeth-2014-10
Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:14:00 -0400Matt Johnston
<p>Halloween brings lots of sweets — sweets we know are bad for us. But just how bad? We did the science and found out.</p>
<div><em>Produced By Matt Johnston.</em></div>
<div><em>&nbsp;</em></div>
<div><strong>Follow BI Video: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsider.Video"></a></strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsider.Video">On Facebook</a></div><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/candy-rots-your-teeth-2014-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-whiten-your-teeth-reaches-the-supreme-court-2014-10A Fight About How To Whiten Your Teeth Went All The Way To The Supreme Courthttp://www.businessinsider.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-whiten-your-teeth-reaches-the-supreme-court-2014-10
Sat, 18 Oct 2014 10:13:27 -0400Business Insider
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54427378ecad04da4312fdcb-959-720/8587640964_4c189bc843_o.png" border="0" alt="teeth whiten">"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight," said Phyllis Diller, a comedian. But a dazzling one can set you back a lot of money, and dentists in North Carolina want to keep it that way. Just over a decade ago the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners (NCBDE) noticed that many people were getting their teeth whitened at spas or kiosks in shopping malls. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The procedure typically involves placing disposable strips impregnated with a whitening agent on a client's teeth. The strips are deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration and regulated as cosmetics. Salons charge as little as a tenth as much for this service as a dentist would. So in 2003 the NCBDE sent at least 47 cease-and-desist letters to teeth-whitening outfits, accusing them of practising dentistry without a licence and driving them out of business.</span></p>
<p>The NCBDE is composed mostly of practising dentists with an interest in eliminating competitors. Free marketeers have long complained about this sort of behaviour, which goes on in several states and many industries. In 2010 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) agreed; and on October 14th the case reached the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Hashim Mooppan, arguing for the dentists, claimed that a Supreme Court decision from 1943 gave the state dental board immunity from the antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act. Some of the justices sounded sceptical. Sonia Sotomayor complained that North Carolina has given a "group of private actors a pass on antitrust litigation". Stephen Breyer mused that if the state were to let a group of wine merchants or truckers fix their own prices, "they might get out of hand."</p>
<p>However, Justice Samuel Alito said he was "not attracted to the idea of federal courts looking at state agencies...to determine whether they are really serving the public interest." Opening the door to this kind of supervision is "troubling," he told Malcolm Stewart, the lawyer for the FTC. Justice Breyer asked whether a ruling against dentists policing dentistry would entail a new norm requiring bureaucrats, rather than brain surgeons, to regulate neurology. "I want a neurologist to decide it," Justice Antonin Scalia said.</p>
<p>No one is suggesting that unqualified people should be allowed to offer dangerous services, however. Rather, the case hinges on whether state-sanctioned professional bodies may claim a monopoly over services that non-members could safely supply.</p>
<p>A ruling that liberated non-dentists to whiten teeth would invite complaints against a host of other professional bodies. Hence the stampede of occupational therapists, masseurs, chiropractors and many others to warn of dire consequences if the court disrupts "a 150-year tradition of regulation by practising professionals", as one brief put it. Others see it differently. Legalzoom, a firm that helps people write their own cheap legal documents using an online kit, has often been stymied by state bar associations.</p>
<p>Companies that act like cartels face stiff criminal penalties. Why, asks the Pacific Legal Foundation, a non-profit, should private parties acting under the government's aegis be allowed to get away with the same thing? A decision is expected by June.</p>
<p>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT0wYmVmM2I2Y2Q4OTMzY2ZiOGY4MGI0NDUwNzcxMmRhYyZub25jZT1iODMwOTgyYy0wODA2LTQwZTEtODA5NS1jNTFjYWQyMzkzYjImcHVibGlzaGVyPTczMGViODZhYjU5ZjBkNDE5MjZhYzY1YjAxZjgzZTJm" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1"></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-whiten-your-teeth-reaches-the-supreme-court-2014-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-whiten-your-teeth-reaches-the-supreme-court-2014-10A Fight For The Right To Whiten Your Teeth Reaches The Supreme Courthttp://www.businessinsider.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-whiten-your-teeth-reaches-the-supreme-court-2014-10
Sat, 18 Oct 2014 10:09:00 -0400
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54427378ecad04da4312fdcb-959-720/8587640964_4c189bc843_o.png" border="0" alt="teeth whiten">"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight," said Phyllis Diller, a comedian. But a dazzling one can set you back a lot of money, and dentists in North Carolina want to keep it that way. Just over a decade ago the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners (NCBDE) noticed that many people were getting their teeth whitened at spas or kiosks in shopping malls. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The procedure typically involves placing disposable strips impregnated with a whitening agent on a client's teeth. The strips are deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration and regulated as cosmetics. Salons charge as little as a tenth as much for this service as a dentist would. So in 2003 the NCBDE sent at least 47 cease-and-desist letters to teeth-whitening outfits, accusing them of practising dentistry without a licence and driving them out of business.</span></p>
<p>The NCBDE is composed mostly of practising dentists with an interest in eliminating competitors. Free marketeers have long complained about this sort of behaviour, which goes on in several states and many industries. In 2010 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) agreed; and on October 14th the case reached the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Hashim Mooppan, arguing for the dentists, claimed that a Supreme Court decision from 1943 gave the state dental board immunity from the antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act. Some of the justices sounded sceptical. Sonia Sotomayor complained that North Carolina has given a "group of private actors a pass on antitrust litigation". Stephen Breyer mused that if the state were to let a group of wine merchants or truckers fix their own prices, "they might get out of hand."</p>
<p>However, Justice Samuel Alito said he was "not attracted to the idea of federal courts looking at state agencies...to determine whether they are really serving the public interest." Opening the door to this kind of supervision is "troubling," he told Malcolm Stewart, the lawyer for the FTC. Justice Breyer asked whether a ruling against dentists policing dentistry would entail a new norm requiring bureaucrats, rather than brain surgeons, to regulate neurology. "I want a neurologist to decide it," Justice Antonin Scalia said.</p>
<p>No one is suggesting that unqualified people should be allowed to offer dangerous services, however. Rather, the case hinges on whether state-sanctioned professional bodies may claim a monopoly over services that non-members could safely supply.</p>
<p>A ruling that liberated non-dentists to whiten teeth would invite complaints against a host of other professional bodies. Hence the stampede of occupational therapists, masseurs, chiropractors and many others to warn of dire consequences if the court disrupts "a 150-year tradition of regulation by practising professionals", as one brief put it. Others see it differently. Legalzoom, a firm that helps people write their own cheap legal documents using an online kit, has often been stymied by state bar associations.</p>
<p>Companies that act like cartels face stiff criminal penalties. Why, asks the Pacific Legal Foundation, a non-profit, should private parties acting under the government's aegis be allowed to get away with the same thing? A decision is expected by June.</p>
<p>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT0wYmVmM2I2Y2Q4OTMzY2ZiOGY4MGI0NDUwNzcxMmRhYyZub25jZT1iODMwOTgyYy0wODA2LTQwZTEtODA5NS1jNTFjYWQyMzkzYjImcHVibGlzaGVyPTczMGViODZhYjU5ZjBkNDE5MjZhYzY1YjAxZjgzZTJm" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1"></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-whiten-your-teeth-reaches-the-supreme-court-2014-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/is-colgate-total-triclosan-toothpaste-safe-2014-8Should You Keep Using Your Colgate Total Toothpaste?http://www.businessinsider.com/is-colgate-total-triclosan-toothpaste-safe-2014-8
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 09:30:00 -0400Katie Jennings
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53ea577b6da8118b26e668ea-1200-750/2925886.jpg" border="0" alt="colgate total toothpaste"></p><p>Colgate Total toothpaste contains an antibacterial ingredient called triclosan. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/triclosan-cancer-causing-ingredient-in-colgate-toothpaste-2014-8" target="_blank">As we recently reported</a>, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-11/in-35-pages-buried-at-fda-worries-over-colgate-s-total.html" target="_blank">a Bloomberg News story</a> raised concerns over the potentially harmful effects of the chemical.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">While long-term research in humans is lacking, several studies of the effects of triclosan in mice and rats found adverse health effects at high concentrations, including </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/decade-old-question-antibacterial-soap-safe">reduced fertility</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> and </span><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx5000156">increased cancer risk</a><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx5000156"></a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">But it's difficult to say if these results would translate into humans, especially because we've been exposed to triclosan in various products for decades. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Recent headlines with phrases like "</span><a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/35246-colgate-total-toothpaste-has-triclosan-a-cancer-linked-ingredient-and-nobody-knew-until-now" target="_blank">cancer-causing chemical</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">" or "</span><a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/35246-colgate-total-toothpaste-has-triclosan-a-cancer-linked-ingredient-and-nobody-knew-until-now" target="_blank">cancer-linked ingredient</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">" are overhyped and fail to account for this.</span></p>
<p>And while any link with cancer probably sounds scary, it's important to keep in mind that the compound is in the toothpaste for a reason: It helps fight gingivitis, a common disease that causes inflammation and bleeding of the gums.</p>
<p>Do the benefits that triclosan provides in Colgate Total toothpaste outweigh the risks? Or should you throw it in the trash and switch to Crest, which is advertised as 100% triclosan free?</p>
<p>This risk-benefit analysis poses very personal questions, and we can't say for sure if you should switch, b<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ut here's what we do know about triclosan.</span></p>
<h2>What is triclosan?</h2>
<p>Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent, meaning that it helps to "slow or stop the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mildew," <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm">according to the Environmental Protection Agency</a>. It first started to appear in antibacterial hand soap products in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Since then, triclosan has been added to a ton of things — "it has been used in consumer products such as detergents, soaps, skin cleansers, deodorants, lotions, creams, toothpastes, and dishwashing liquids," <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Triclosan_FactSheet.html" target="_blank">according to a CDC fact sheet</a>. Many of those products labeled with "antibacterial" potentially contain triclosan or a related compound.</p>
<h2>What are the risks?</h2>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The truth is, we don't fully know what the risks of triclosan use are. "The human health effects from exposure to low environmental levels of triclosan are unknown ... More research is needed to assess the human health effects of exposure to triclosan," </span><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Triclosan_FactSheet.html" target="_blank">according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fact sheet</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has never issued a comprehensive ruling on triclosan's effectiveness and safety — even though it originally said it would look into triclosan in 1974. Now, the FDA says it will issue a ruling on triclosan in 2016.</p>
<p>But because of consumer concerns about safety and environmental impacts, triclosan has been phased out of many soap products because of <a href="http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm205999.htm" target="_blank">mounting evidence</a> that these products don't provide health benefits above regular soap and water.</p>
<p>Tests in animals have raised some red flags. For example, <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx5000156" target="_blank">one study found</a> that triclosan promoted breast cancer in cells in the lab and in mice. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.339/abstract;jsessionid=C0EEE49270E7603C59A217791D5F2672.f02t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&amp;userIsAuthenticated=false" target="_blank">Another study found</a> that exposure to triclosan during fetal development caused neurological damage in some <span>rats.</span></p>
<p>But it is important to recognize that chemicals can affect animals differently from humans, and animal testing can involve sky-high doses of the chemical in question. However, these kinds of findings in animals mean further testing is warranted before the product is approved for humans.</p>
<p>Direct affects of the chemical on your body are not the only concerns about the additive. In the mid-2000s, environmental groups like the <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/living/chemicalindex/triclosan.asp" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council, started to raise concerns</a> that the inclusion of triclosan in soaps might be contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which can cause dangerous infections that are hard to treat. Because soaps get washed down the drain and eventually end up in water systems, the group also found that triclosan could disrupt the algae and wildlife found in water ecosystems. For example, <a href="http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/119/2/417.full" target="_blank">Canadian scientists found</a> that exposure to triclosan caused developmental issues in bullfrogs.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency website says that triclosan</a> " potentially pos[es] a concern for aquatic organisms." The agency plans to re-evaluate triclosan, but it remains a registered pesticide.</p>
<h2>What are the benefits?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.colgatetotal.com/triclosan-faq" target="_blank">According to Colgate's website</a>: <span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Reviews by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the American Dental Association, and government agencies around the world confirm triclosan's safe use in toothpaste and recognize that Colgate Total provides an important health benefit."</span></p>
<p>The website also says the "safety and effectiveness" of the product is supported by more than 80 scientific studies, involving 19,000 people.</p>
<p>Last year, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24310847" target="_blank">an independent review of the existing research on triclosan in toothpaste</a> concluded that the chemical "reduced plaque, gingival inflammation, and gingival bleeding" but that those reductions "may or may not be clinically important." Triclosan-containing toothpaste was also associated with a "small reduction" in cavities.</p>
<p>"There do not appear to be any serious safety concerns regarding the use of triclosan ... toothpastes in studies up to three years in duration," the reviewers concluded.</p>
<p>Colgate is quick to point out that real-world evidence seems to echo these results.</p>
<p>"In the nearly 18 years that Colgate Total has been on the market in the U.S., there has been no signal of a safety issue from adverse-event reports," <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-11/in-35-pages-buried-at-fda-worries-over-colgate-s-total.html">Thomas DiPiazza, a Colgate spokesman, told Bloomberg.</a></p>
<p><span>Colgate did not return our request for comment. (We will update this post if we hear back.) </span></p>
<h2>What's the bottom line?</h2>
<p>So, should you throw away your tube of Colgate Total? Basically, that's up to you.</p>
<p>If the results of these animal trials scare you, or if you are worried about triclosan seeping into the environment, and you don't have gingivitis, you might want to switch toothpastes. But, the current FDA stance is that "triclosan is not known to be hazardous to humans" and that there is not "sufficient safety evidence" to recommend that consumers stop using products containing triclosan.</p>
<p>Once again it's important to reiterate that often in studies, animals are given very high doses of a chemical relative to the actual levels that humans would consume. So unless you plan on eating a whole tube of Colgate Total (not recommended for other reasons), you will probably be fine. And also, before you switch to a "natural" toothpaste, you might want to know that Tom's of Maine happens to be a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive Co.</p>
<h3>
<br><strong>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/msg-ingredients-side-effects-2014-6">The Truth Behind Notorious Flavor Enhancer MSG</a></strong>
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<p class="embed-spacer"></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/triclosan-cancer-causing-ingredient-in-colgate-toothpaste-2014-8#ixzz3ACYeblja" >Colgate-Palmolive Removed This Potentially Harmful Chemical From Its Soap Products — But It's Still In Your Toothpaste </a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/is-colgate-total-triclosan-toothpaste-safe-2014-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/jesus-statue-has-real-human-teeth-2014-8300-Year-Old Jesus Statue Found To Have Real Human Teethhttp://www.businessinsider.com/jesus-statue-has-real-human-teeth-2014-8
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:57:00 -0400Tia Ghose
<p><img class="full" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/53f505a66bb3f76508aec962-800-/screen%20shot%202014-08-20%20at%204.21.55%20pm.png" border="0" alt="jesus statue real human teeth" width="800"></p><p>A Jesus statue that has lived an unassuming life in a small town in Mexico for the last 300 years has been hiding a strange secret: real human teeth.</p>
<p>Exactly how the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/19520-alleged-christian-relics-jesus.html">statue of Jesus</a> awaiting punishment prior to his crucifixion got its set of choppers is a mystery.</p>
<p>But the statue may be an example of a tradition in which <a href="http://www.livescience.com/37009-human-body.html">human body parts</a> were donated to churches for religious purposes, said Fanny Unikel Santoncini, a restorer at the Escuela Nacional de Restauración, Conservación y Museografía at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología E Historia (INAH) in Mexico, who first discovered the statue's teeth.</p>
<p>"We have to remember that these people were very, very religious. They believed absolutely that there was a life after death and this was important for them," Unikel told Live Science. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/47406-in-images-a-statue-with-human-teeth.html">See Images of the Jesus Statue with Human Teeth</a>]</p>
<h2><strong>Unassuming appearance</strong></h2>
<p>At first glance, the Christ of Patience — which depicts a seated, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/28304-facts-about-jesus.html">bloody Jesus</a> gazing sadly off into the distance — doesn't look that different from statues found throughout the country. The painted wooden figure, which dates to the 17th or 18th century, wears human clothes and a wig, and was sculpted with a blend of European techniques and local materials, Unikel said.</p>
<p>"In Mexico, there are many statues like this — not only Christ, but Saints, the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/42175-virgin-birth-why-we-believe.html">Virgin Mary</a>," Unikel said.</p>
<p>Using human and animal body parts for statues isn't unusual either. People routinely donated hair to serve as wigs for statues, and artists often used nails fashioned from the shaved horns of bulls, she said.</p>
<p>Statues in Mexico are known to include <a href="http://www.livescience.com/46788-ancient-dental-implant-found.html">false teeth</a> made from animal bone — either with all the teeth carved from one solid piece of bone, or with individual, square-shaped teeth. A statue of the devil may be given a set of dog's teeth, and the team has even restored a baby Jesus statue with two baby rabbit teeth sprouting from its gums, Unikel said. But though there were rumors about a few statues containing human teeth, Unikel had never seen one.</p>
<h2><strong>God's teeth</strong></h2>
<p>The discovery happened by accident, when the Christ of Patience was taken, along with several other statues, to be restored by the INAH researchers.</p>
<p>As part of their restoration work, Unikel and her colleagues took X-rays of the statues. The anthropologist on the team noticed something unusual: real human teeth.</p>
<p>"We said 'Ah, it's not possible!'" Unikel told Live Science. "She said, 'I am absolutely sure about this.'"</p>
<p>The pearly whites seemed to be in good condition, with even the roots present. The finding is even stranger in that someone would donate such healthy teeth for the statue given that the statue's mouth is barely open, and the teeth aren't even visible unless someone peers inside, Unikel said.</p>
<h2><strong>Finding the owner</strong></h2>
<p>The teeth could have come from living or dead people, but with no available documents describing the statue, scientists and restorers will have a tough time tracking down the original owner. One possibility is that a particularly devout parishioner, or even many different people, donated the teeth. Another possibility is that someone extracted the teeth from an unwilling victim, but if so, the sculptor would never have revealed that fact, Unikel said. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/19520-alleged-christian-relics-jesus.html">Religious Mysteries: 8 Alleged Relics of Jesus</a>]</p>
<p>Donating <a href="http://www.livescience.com/21513-vestigial-organs.html">body parts</a> to a church or religious cause was common practice during the late 17th and 18th centuries. For instance, the Bishop of Guadalajara, Obispo Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, donated his heart to the nuns of Convento de Santa Mónica de Puebla after he died in 1699. The heart was visible in a monstrance that only the nuns could see, Unikel said. And a Spanish government minister, Viceroy Baltazar de Zúñiga, Marquez de Valero also donated his heart to a convent of nuns, she said.</p>
<p>"For us, it seems mad," Unikel said, referring to people in modern times. But "the way they thought about the body was different from ours."</p>
<p>Now the researchers would like to find out more about the mysterious person or people who donated these teeth. Though they can't remove the teeth from the religious statue, the researchers hope to study them more carefully to figure out the age and sex of the teeth's owners, she said.</p>
<p><em>Follow Tia Ghose on <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/tiaghose">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/101897839070491804371/posts">Google+</a>.FollowLive Science <a href="https://twitter.com/LiveScience" title="http://twitter.com/#!/livescience">@livescience</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience" title="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience">Facebook</a> &amp; <a href="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts">Google+</a>. Original article on <a href="http://www.livescience.com/">Live Science</a>.</em></p>
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<li><em><a href="http://www.livescience.com/40046-holy-land-archaeological-finds.html">The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds</a></em></li>
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<p><em>Copyright 2014 <a href="http://www.livescience.com/">LiveScience</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/old-bottle-in-shipwreck-still-contains-liquor-2014-8" >200-Year-Old Bottle Found In Shipwreck Still Contains Liquor </a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jesus-statue-has-real-human-teeth-2014-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8What Dentists Can Tell About Your Health Just By Looking In Your Mouthhttp://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8
Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:35:00 -0400Business Insider
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53e8da0decad04536435c062-400-/3379872779_64085aa865_o.jpg" border="0" alt="woman with cavity" width="400"></p><p></p>
<p>When dentists poke around inside your mouth while simultaneously asking you questions about how often you floss, it's not just cavities they are looking for — and there's a lot more than tooth decay that they can see.</p>
<p>The health of your mouth, particularly your gums, has major implications for your general health.</p>
<p>It's probably no surprise that dentists look for signs of oral cancer when examining the mouth. But some far less obvious health conditions show up in your mouth too.</p>
<p>"If the eye is the window to the soul, the mouth is the window to the body," says Dr. Stuart Froum, the president of the American Academy of Periodontists — dentists who focus on gum disease — and a practicing periodontist in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Medical conditions are more likely to show up in the gums and mouth than the teeth themselves, though ignoring those gum conditions and not flossing can lead to some pretty nasty teeth issues.</p>
<p>People ignore periodontal, or gum, disease with surprising frequency.</p>
<p>"I see people coming in who are meticulously dressed, women and men, who have their hair and nails done, are very interested in health — and these are patients who haven't seen a dentist in years," he says.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.perio.org/consumer/cdc-study.htm" target="_blank">Almost 50% of adults</a> have some form of gum disease, which is the leading cause of tooth loss and a sign of many other health issues as well.</p>
<p>Here are seven things that a dentist can tell from looking in your mouth.</p>
<p><strong>1. You are pregnant.</strong> Small <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220110/" target="_blank">red growths on the gums</a> and between teeth, frequently referred to as pregnancy tumors, show up in about 5% of pregnant women. They aren't dangerous, but can be associated with increased sensitivity in the mouth, which means that some people need extra dental care while pregnant. "I diagnosed a pregnancy on a women before her obstetrician once," says Froum.</p>
<p><strong>2. Light pink pale gums can be a sign of anemia</strong>, according to Dr. Sally Cram, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association and a periodontist in Washington, D.C. When people are iron deficient, their <a href="http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/ida/diagnosis.html" target="_blank">gums can lose the normal red color</a> and turn pink or even white.</p>
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/53ea42356da811903ce668ea-1000-750/497109640_1db81470d5_o-1.jpg" border="0" alt="cavity problem" width="200">3. Many antidepressants cause dry mouth, which can lead to cavities.</strong> SSRIs like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/SSRIs-(selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors)/Pages/side-effects.aspx" target="_blank">commonly have this effect</a>. While these drugs can help people manage mental health issues, some decrease the flow of saliva, which acts like a protective agent for teeth. Dentists who notice the issue or are alerted to it can recommend sprays, saliva substitutes, or other strategies for protecting teeth. Certain antihistamines, which are frequently used to treat allergies, can cause similar dry mouth issues.</p>
<p><strong>4. You're stressed out or anxious. </strong>Froum says that during medical school exams at NYU, he usually gets a steady flow of patients complaining of sensitive gums and teeth, who say "this is the worst time for this to be happening." Unfortunately, "the worst time" is a frequent trigger for gum problems, as people are more likely to neglect oral hygiene and are likely to have an increased amount of stress hormones like cortisol in their body. Higher levels of cortisol are <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/26/1118355109.abstract" target="_blank">strongly associated with inflammation</a> and make it harder for your body to fight infection. Those stress hormones and associated inflammation also <a href="http://www.joponline.org/doi/abs/10.1902/jop.2007.060225" target="_blank">lead to gum disease</a>, which can cause tooth and bone loss.</p>
<p><strong>5. Frequent infections called abscesses at the root of a tooth or on the gums in between teeth are a common side effect of diabetes.</strong> Dentists might be the first to diagnose diabetes in many patients, as these infections, which can be painful, frequently bring someone to a dentist's office. Healthy people can develop abscesses, but people with diabetes have <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Abscess/Pages/Causes.aspx" target="_blank">an increased risk</a>. Someone who is having trouble managing their blood sugar is especially susceptible to these infections, and the inflammation abscesses cause can in turn make it harder to control blood sugar. That interplay can create a nasty cycle.</p>
<p><strong>6. Autoimmune diseases such as lupus and Crohn's disease can cause sore red spots in the mouth.</strong> <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000867.htm" target="_blank">Lichen planus</a>, another condition that seems to be linked to immune function, frequently shows up as sores on the skin and white spots in the mouth. These spots may be tender or painful and can lead to mouth ulcers, which can be dangerous, but the spots themselves usually respond to treatment.</p>
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53e8dbd1eab8ea4917cb91c0-800-313/800px-gingivitis-before.jpg" border="0" alt="gingivitis gum disease" width="200">7. Heart problems are associated with gum disease as well,</strong> though Froum cautions that no cause-and-effect relationship has been found. Still, people with <a href="http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/science-in-the-news/two-journals-publish-editors-consensus-on-periodontitis-and-atherosclerotic-cardiovascular-disease" target="_blank">periodontal issues are more likely to suffer from</a> heart problems. Researchers think the relationship may be related to underlying issues with chronic inflammation.</p>
<p>One common link with many of these conditions is particularly important to note: dealing with these issues in the mouth can make it easier to find and treat conditions that affect other parts of the body as well.</p>
<p>"Controlling the one condition or the other can benefit people," whether you start with the one in the body or the way it shows up in the mouth, says Cram.</p>
<p>It's a good reason to make sure to schedule an annual visit to a dentist, even if you're lucky enough to have never had a cavity.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-nails-2014-5" >What Doctors Can Tell About Your Health Just By Looking At Your Nails</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Don't Miss:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-brush-and-floss-your-teeth-2014-2" >13 Awful Things That Happen If You Don't Brush And Floss Your Teeth</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-way-to-brush-your-teeth-2014-8What's The Best Way To Brush Your Teeth?http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-way-to-brush-your-teeth-2014-8
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 10:00:00 -0400Kevin Loria
<h3><img class="full" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/53ed0d2ceab8eaec17985f91-800-/3202994732_2db55675de_b.jpg" border="0" alt="Tooth brushing" width="800">BI Answers: What's the best way to brush your teeth?</h3>
<p>Taking care of your teeth is important — the consequences of not having good oral health are horrifying.</p>
<p>Seriously, Google <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=periodontitis&amp;espv=2&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=oOXsU77cEu3LsAS00IGQDg&amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&amp;biw=1615&amp;bih=867" target="_blank">image search "periodontitis"</a> for proof. Health conditions other than gum disease and tooth loss that are linked to bad dental hygiene range from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-brush-and-floss-your-teeth-2014-2" target="_blank">diabetes to dementia to erectile dysfunction</a>.</p>
<p>But there's some confusion about the best way to brush your teeth.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v217/n3/full/sj.bdj.2014.651.html" target="_blank">recent study</a> in the British Dental Journal found that there's no consensus on the most effective way to use a toothbrush. In the study's <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/ucl-wtb080714.php" target="_blank">press release</a>, the authors described this as "unacceptably inconsistent" and "undermining faith and trust in the profession as a whole."</p>
<p>The study analyzed the recommendations of different dental organizations, toothpaste and toothbrush companies, and dental texts, and found that many different methods of tooth cleaning were recommended without any consensus on what was best — meaning that a person might be given different advice on the best way to hold their brush by two different dentists, which the authors said confuses patients.</p>
<p>But is it really so complicated?</p>
<p>No, according to the dentists we talked to.</p>
<p>Brushing and flossing remove particulate buildup from food as well as bacteria that cause cavities. These things always continue to build up, but regular maintenance can protect the average person's teeth and gums from their damaging effects.</p>
<p>They say the most important thing is remembering to regularly brush and floss and to do it thoroughly — and to see a dentist at least once a year.</p>
<p>Getting an annual professional cleaning helps to remove hard-to-reach plaque — otherwise it can build up and harden, causing serious problems.</p>
<p>Here's what you need to know:</p>
<p><strong>The toothbrush:</strong> Unless your dentist advises otherwise, <strong>it doesn't matter whether you use a regular toothbrush or an electric one</strong> — that you use it is what counts. Electric brushes may be helpful for people with reduced mobility who have a harder time reaching the inside surfaces of teeth.</p>
<p><strong>Soft-bristled brushes <a href="http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/b/brushing-your-teeth" target="_blank">are recommended</a> </strong>for the vast majority of people, however, as they are less likely to damage enamel and gums. The brush itself should be a comfortable size, one that can reach the teeth from all sides.</p>
<p>Many toothbrushes fit these requirements, but the American Dental Association has a list of <a href="http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/ada-seal-products/Find-ADA-Seal-Products-by-Category/" target="_blank">approved toothbrushes</a>.</p>
<p><strong>The toothpaste:</strong> The key ingredient in all toothpastes, including traditional and "natural" products, is cavity-fighting fluoride. While some toothpastes may be specially formulated to fight gingivitis or to whiten teeth, they <strong><a href="http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Science%20and%20Research/Files/guide_fluoride_dentifrice.ashx" target="_blank">must contain fluoride</a> in order to receive the ADA Seal of Acceptance.</strong></p>
<p>Toothpastes <a href="http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/ada-seal-of-acceptance/product-category-information/toothpaste" target="_blank">may also contain</a> mild abrasives like calcium carbonate or baking soda to remove surface stains, as well as detergents that make it foam up. It's up to you to choose between "Arctic Blast" and "Icy Mint" flavors.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/triclosan-cancer-causing-ingredient-in-colgate-toothpaste-2014-8" target="_blank">Colgate Total</a> and <strong>some other toothpastes contain triclosan, an antibacterial</strong> that fights gum disease. Some lab studies in animals suggest it could be harmful — though there's no proof that it's definitely harmful and studies have shown that it can help fight gingivitis.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/53ed28b86da811a329c340f0-527-769/screen%20shot%202014-08-14%20at%205.22.14%20pm.png" border="0" alt="Flossing Tips" width="400"><strong>Dental Floss: </strong> Brushing your teeth can't remove all the plaque from your mouth — it builds up in between teeth, and needs to be removed. Otherwise, that buildup can become problematic and can lead to gum disease, bad breath, and tooth loss.</p>
<p><strong>Flossing at least once a day is absolutely essential,</strong> though it's good to do it right after every meal, too.</p>
<p>Flossing shouldn't be painful — pain is a sign of potential gum disease. But if one type of floss is uncomfortable or difficult people should choose another type. Waxed or unwaxed is perfectly fine, and using a pre-threaded floss pick can be easy for some people.</p>
<p>Use the directions to the right for detailed instructions.</p>
<p><strong>Mouthwash: </strong>Mouthwash is a supplement to good oral health, according to Dr. Sally Cram, consumer advisor spokesperson for the American Dental Association, but <strong> it's not essential like flossing and brushing.</strong></p>
<p>Mouthwash doesn't protect against gum disease, the leading cause of tooth loss. It feels like it cleans because it's astringent, but doesn't do anything to remove plaque. They do kill of the bacteria that make the plaque, though they quickly grow back.</p>
<p>That being said,<strong> mouthwashes containing flouride can help fight cavities</strong>. They may also contain menthol products, which can be helpful for people with bad breath. They can be particularly effective used as a <strong>rinse after brushing or flossing</strong>, to remove the bits of plaque that have been loosened up.</p>
<p><strong>How long, how often, and in what order:</strong> People should floss at least once a day, making sure to remove all food debris, and brush at least twice.</p>
<p>As long someone does that much, <strong>it doesn't matter whether they brush or floss first</strong>. But dentists say to make sure to get in between and behind all teeth when flossing, and to reach all possible tooth surfaces when brushing.</p>
<p><strong>It should take about two minutes to thoroughly clean your entire mouth.</strong></p>
<p>Afterwards, go ahead and rinse — with mouthwash if you'd like.</p>
<p>Dr. Stuart Froum, the president of the American Academy of Periodontists and a practicing periodontist in Manhattan, recommends brushing after every meal. And although some dentists <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2154482/Brushing-teeth-meals-actually-damage-them.html" target="_blank">recommend waiting about a half hour</a> before brushing so that tooth enamel isn't damaged by the combination of food acid and brushing, Cram says that this is only a problem after eating something particularly acidic.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53ecff6feab8ea7a5f985f8b-526-722/screen%20shot%202014-08-14%20at%202.25.44%20pm.png" border="0" alt="American Dental Association tooth brushing guide" width="400"></p>
<p><strong>Don't forget to brush the tongue too</strong>, since bacteria builds up there and can contribute to bad breath.</p>
<p><strong>Brushing methods:</strong> Brushing techniques are what stirred up the controversy from the new study, since different methods are recommended by different organizations. This could confuse patients.</p>
<p>Some popular ones include the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqCpZm6s_dE" target="_blank">modified Bass</a> (pronounced like the fish), Bass, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB6CeOYzGKc" target="_blank">Fones</a>.</p>
<p>The modified Bass, which the study found most frequently recommended for adults, involves holding the brush at a 45 degree angle to teeth, moving it back and forth, and then brushing down to remove plaque.</p>
<p>"Think of your gum as a little turtleneck collar around your tooth," says Cram. "Get in there and brush the tooth surface and get around under the tissue and remove the plaque."</p>
<p>Brushing down is what makes this the modified Bass, as opposed to regular Bass. Check it out:</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53ed3120ecad043e12a65d7d/modified bass brushing.gif" border="0" alt="modified bass brushing"></p>
<p>The Fones technique, most frequently recommended for kids and people with less dexterity, involves moving the brush in a circular motion.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/53ed32366da8119a58c340e9/fones technique.gif" border="0" alt="Fones technique"></p>
<p>This probably doesn't matter much, since <strong>there's little evidence that any that any one technique keeps teeth cleaner,</strong> Dr. Nigel Carter of the British Dental Health Foundation <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28689887" target="_blank">explained to the BBC</a>. In other words, it's doing the brushing that matters more than the particular method you use.</p>
<p>"Dentists generally feel it is better to take a person's existing habits and modify them if necessary," said Carter, instead of trying to institute a whole new technique.</p>
<p><em style="line-height: 1.5em;">This post is part of a continuing series that answers all of your "why" questions related to science. Have your own question? Email <a href="mailto:dspector@businessinsider.com">science@businessinsider.com</a> with the subject line "Q&amp;A"; tweet your question to <a href="https://twitter.com/BI_Science" target="_blank">@BI_Science</a>; or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderScience" target="_blank">post to our Facebook page</a>.</em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8" >What Dentists Can Tell About Your Health Just By Looking In Your Mouth</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/bi-answers" >More BI Answers</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-way-to-brush-your-teeth-2014-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/is-colgate-total-triclosan-toothpaste-safe-2014-8Should You Keep Using Your Colgate Total Toothpaste?http://www.businessinsider.com/is-colgate-total-triclosan-toothpaste-safe-2014-8
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 05:40:00 -0400Katie Jennings
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53ea577b6da8118b26e668ea-1200-750/2925886.jpg" border="0" alt="colgate total toothpaste"></p><p>Colgate Total toothpaste contains an antibacterial ingredient called triclosan. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/triclosan-cancer-causing-ingredient-in-colgate-toothpaste-2014-8" target="_blank">As we recently reported</a>, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-11/in-35-pages-buried-at-fda-worries-over-colgate-s-total.html" target="_blank">a Bloomberg News story</a> raised concerns over the potentially harmful effects of the chemical.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">While long-term research in humans is lacking, several studies of the effects of triclosan in mice and rats found adverse health effects at high concentrations, including </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/decade-old-question-antibacterial-soap-safe">reduced fertility</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> and </span><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx5000156">increased cancer risk</a><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx5000156"></a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">But it's difficult to say if these results would translate into humans, especially because we've been exposed to triclosan in various products for decades. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Recent headlines with phrases like "</span><a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/35246-colgate-total-toothpaste-has-triclosan-a-cancer-linked-ingredient-and-nobody-knew-until-now" target="_blank">cancer-causing chemical</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">" or "</span><a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/35246-colgate-total-toothpaste-has-triclosan-a-cancer-linked-ingredient-and-nobody-knew-until-now" target="_blank">cancer-linked ingredient</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">" are overhyped and fail to account for this.</span></p>
<p>And while any link with cancer probably sounds scary, it's important to keep in mind that the compound is in the toothpaste for a reason: It helps fight gingivitis, a common disease that causes inflammation and bleeding of the gums.</p>
<p>Do the benefits that triclosan provides in Colgate Total toothpaste outweigh the risks? Or should you throw it in the trash and switch to Crest, which is advertised as 100% triclosan free?</p>
<p>This risk-benefit analysis poses very personal questions, and we can't say for sure if you should switch, b<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ut here's what we do know about triclosan.</span></p>
<h2>What is triclosan?</h2>
<p>Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent, meaning that it helps to "slow or stop the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mildew," <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm">according to the Environmental Protection Agency</a>. It first started to appear in antibacterial hand soap products in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Since then, triclosan has been added to a ton of things — "it has been used in consumer products such as detergents, soaps, skin cleansers, deodorants, lotions, creams, toothpastes, and dishwashing liquids," <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Triclosan_FactSheet.html" target="_blank">according to a CDC fact sheet</a>. Many of those products labeled with "antibacterial" potentially contain triclosan or a related compound.</p>
<h2>What are the risks?</h2>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The truth is, we don't fully know what the risks of triclosan use are. "The human health effects from exposure to low environmental levels of triclosan are unknown ... More research is needed to assess the human health effects of exposure to triclosan," </span><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Triclosan_FactSheet.html" target="_blank">according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fact sheet</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has never issued a comprehensive ruling on triclosan's effectiveness and safety — even though it originally said it would look into triclosan in 1974. Now, the FDA says it will issue a ruling on triclosan in 2016.</p>
<p>But because of consumer concerns about safety and environmental impacts, triclosan has been phased out of many soap products because of <a href="http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm205999.htm" target="_blank">mounting evidence</a> that these products don't provide health benefits above regular soap and water.</p>
<p>Tests in animals have raised some red flags. For example, <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx5000156" target="_blank">one study found</a> that triclosan promoted breast cancer in cells in the lab and in mice. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.339/abstract;jsessionid=C0EEE49270E7603C59A217791D5F2672.f02t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&amp;userIsAuthenticated=false" target="_blank">Another study found</a> that exposure to triclosan during fetal development caused neurological damage in some <span>rats.</span></p>
<p>But it is important to recognize that chemicals can affect animals differently from humans, and animal testing can involve sky-high doses of the chemical in question. However, these kinds of findings in animals mean further testing is warranted before the product is approved for humans.</p>
<p>Direct affects of the chemical on your body are not the only concerns about the additive. In the mid-2000s, environmental groups like the <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/living/chemicalindex/triclosan.asp" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council, started to raise concerns</a> that the inclusion of triclosan in soaps might be contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which can cause dangerous infections that are hard to treat. Because soaps get washed down the drain and eventually end up in water systems, the group also found that triclosan could disrupt the algae and wildlife found in water ecosystems. For example, <a href="http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/119/2/417.full" target="_blank">Canadian scientists found</a> that exposure to triclosan caused developmental issues in bullfrogs.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency website says that triclosan</a> " potentially pos[es] a concern for aquatic organisms." The agency plans to re-evaluate triclosan, but it remains a registered pesticide.</p>
<h2>What are the benefits?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.colgatetotal.com/triclosan-faq" target="_blank">According to Colgate's website</a>: <span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Reviews by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the American Dental Association, and government agencies around the world confirm triclosan's safe use in toothpaste and recognize that Colgate Total provides an important health benefit."</span></p>
<p>The website also says the "safety and effectiveness" of the product is supported by more than 80 scientific studies, involving 19,000 people.</p>
<p>Last year, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24310847" target="_blank">an independent review of the existing research on triclosan in toothpaste</a> concluded that the chemical "reduced plaque, gingival inflammation, and gingival bleeding" but that those reductions "may or may not be clinically important." Triclosan-containing toothpaste was also associated with a "small reduction" in cavities.</p>
<p>"There do not appear to be any serious safety concerns regarding the use of triclosan ... toothpastes in studies up to three years in duration," the reviewers concluded.</p>
<p>Colgate is quick to point out that real-world evidence seems to echo these results.</p>
<p>"In the nearly 18 years that Colgate Total has been on the market in the U.S., there has been no signal of a safety issue from adverse-event reports," <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-11/in-35-pages-buried-at-fda-worries-over-colgate-s-total.html">Thomas DiPiazza, a Colgate spokesman, told Bloomberg.</a></p>
<p><span>Colgate did not return our request for comment. (We will update this post if we hear back.) </span></p>
<h2>What's the bottom line?</h2>
<p>So, should you throw away your tube of Colgate Total? Basically, that's up to you.</p>
<p>If the results of these animal trials scare you, or if you are worried about triclosan seeping into the environment, and you don't have gingivitis, you might want to switch toothpastes. But, the current FDA stance is that "triclosan is not known to be hazardous to humans" and that there is not "sufficient safety evidence" to recommend that consumers stop using products containing triclosan.</p>
<p>Once again it's important to reiterate that often in studies, animals are given very high doses of a chemical relative to the actual levels that humans would consume. So unless you plan on eating a whole tube of Colgate Total (not recommended for other reasons), you will probably be fine. And also, before you switch to a "natural" toothpaste, you might want to know that Tom's of Maine happens to be a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive Co.</p>
<h3>
<br><strong>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/msg-ingredients-side-effects-2014-6">The Truth Behind Notorious Flavor Enhancer MSG</a></strong>
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<p class="embed-spacer"></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/triclosan-cancer-causing-ingredient-in-colgate-toothpaste-2014-8#ixzz3ACYeblja" >Colgate-Palmolive Removed This Potentially Harmful Chemical From Its Soap Products — But It's Still In Your Toothpaste </a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/is-colgate-total-triclosan-toothpaste-safe-2014-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8What Dentists Can Tell About Your Health Just By Looking In Your Mouthhttp://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 12:36:00 -0400Kevin Loria
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53e8da0decad04536435c062-400-/3379872779_64085aa865_o.jpg" border="0" alt="woman with cavity" width="400"></p><p></p>
<p>When dentists poke around inside your mouth while simultaneously asking you questions about how often you floss, it's not just cavities they are looking for — and there's a lot more than tooth decay that they can see.</p>
<p>The health of your mouth, particularly your gums, has major implications for your general health.</p>
<p>It's probably no surprise that dentists look for signs of oral cancer when examining the mouth. But some far less obvious health conditions show up in your mouth too.</p>
<p>"If the eye is the window to the soul, the mouth is the window to the body," says Dr. Stuart Froum, the president of the American Academy of Periodontists — dentists who focus on gum disease — and a practicing periodontist in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Medical conditions are more likely to show up in the gums and mouth than the teeth themselves, though ignoring those gum conditions and not flossing can lead to some pretty nasty teeth issues.</p>
<p>People ignore periodontal, or gum, disease with surprising frequency.</p>
<p>"I see people coming in who are meticulously dressed, women and men, who have their hair and nails done, are very interested in health — and these are patients who haven't seen a dentist in years," he says.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.perio.org/consumer/cdc-study.htm" target="_blank">Almost 50% of adults</a> have some form of gum disease, which is the leading cause of tooth loss and a sign of many other health issues as well.</p>
<p>Here are seven things that a dentist can tell from looking in your mouth.</p>
<p><strong>1. You are pregnant.</strong> Small <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220110/" target="_blank">red growths on the gums</a> and between teeth, frequently referred to as pregnancy tumors, show up in about 5% of pregnant women. They aren't dangerous, but can be associated with increased sensitivity in the mouth, which means that some people need extra dental care while pregnant. "I diagnosed a pregnancy on a women before her obstetrician once," says Froum.</p>
<p><strong>2. Light pink pale gums can be a sign of anemia</strong>, according to Dr. Sally Cram, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association and a periodontist in Washington, D.C. When people are iron deficient, their <a href="http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/ida/diagnosis.html" target="_blank">gums can lose the normal red color</a> and turn pink or even white.</p>
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/53ea42356da811903ce668ea-1000-750/497109640_1db81470d5_o-1.jpg" border="0" alt="cavity problem" width="200">3. Many antidepressants cause dry mouth, which can lead to cavities.</strong> SSRIs like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/SSRIs-(selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors)/Pages/side-effects.aspx" target="_blank">commonly have this effect</a>. While these drugs can help people manage mental health issues, some decrease the flow of saliva, which acts like a protective agent for teeth. Dentists who notice the issue or are alerted to it can recommend sprays, saliva substitutes, or other strategies for protecting teeth. Certain antihistamines, which are frequently used to treat allergies, can cause similar dry mouth issues.</p>
<p><strong>4. You're stressed out or anxious. </strong>Froum says that during medical school exams at NYU, he usually gets a steady flow of patients complaining of sensitive gums and teeth, who say "this is the worst time for this to be happening." Unfortunately, "the worst time" is a frequent trigger for gum problems, as people are more likely to neglect oral hygiene and are likely to have an increased amount of stress hormones like cortisol in their body. Higher levels of cortisol are <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/26/1118355109.abstract" target="_blank">strongly associated with inflammation</a> and make it harder for your body to fight infection. Those stress hormones and associated inflammation also <a href="http://www.joponline.org/doi/abs/10.1902/jop.2007.060225" target="_blank">lead to gum disease</a>, which can cause tooth and bone loss.</p>
<p><strong>5. Frequent infections called abscesses at the root of a tooth or on the gums in between teeth are a common side effect of diabetes.</strong> Dentists might be the first to diagnose diabetes in many patients, as these infections, which can be painful, frequently bring someone to a dentist's office. Healthy people can develop abscesses, but people with diabetes have <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Abscess/Pages/Causes.aspx" target="_blank">an increased risk</a>. Someone who is having trouble managing their blood sugar is especially susceptible to these infections, and the inflammation abscesses cause can in turn make it harder to control blood sugar. That interplay can create a nasty cycle.</p>
<p><strong>6. Autoimmune diseases such as lupus and Crohn's disease can cause sore red spots in the mouth.</strong> <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000867.htm" target="_blank">Lichen planus</a>, another condition that seems to be linked to immune function, frequently shows up as sores on the skin and white spots in the mouth. These spots may be tender or painful and can lead to mouth ulcers, which can be dangerous, but the spots themselves usually respond to treatment.</p>
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53e8dbd1eab8ea4917cb91c0-800-313/800px-gingivitis-before.jpg" border="0" alt="gingivitis gum disease" width="200">7. Heart problems are associated with gum disease as well,</strong> though Froum cautions that no cause-and-effect relationship has been found. Still, people with <a href="http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/science-in-the-news/two-journals-publish-editors-consensus-on-periodontitis-and-atherosclerotic-cardiovascular-disease" target="_blank">periodontal issues are more likely to suffer from</a> heart problems. Researchers think the relationship may be related to underlying issues with chronic inflammation.</p>
<p>One common link with many of these conditions is particularly important to note: dealing with these issues in the mouth can make it easier to find and treat conditions that affect other parts of the body as well.</p>
<p>"Controlling the one condition or the other can benefit people," whether you start with the one in the body or the way it shows up in the mouth, says Cram.</p>
<p>It's a good reason to make sure to schedule an annual visit to a dentist, even if you're lucky enough to have never had a cavity.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-nails-2014-5" >What Doctors Can Tell About Your Health Just By Looking At Your Nails</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Don't Miss:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-brush-and-floss-your-teeth-2014-2" >13 Awful Things That Happen If You Don't Brush And Floss Your Teeth</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-disease-in-the-teeth-and-mouth-2014-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-teeth-reveal-the-real-paleo-diet-2014-7Ancient Teeth Reveal The Real Paleo Diethttp://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-teeth-reveal-the-real-paleo-diet-2014-7
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 09:56:00 -0400Laura Geggel
<p><img class="full" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53c6f16d69beddf16df996ba-800-/prehistoric-skeletons-tooth-plaque-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="prehistoric skeletons tooth plaque 1 paleo diet" width="800" /></p><p>When looking for a meal, prehistoric people in Africa munched on the tuberous roots of weeds such as the purple nutsedge, according to a new study of hardened plaque on samples of ancient teeth.</p>
<p>Researchers examined the dental buildup of 14 people buried at Al Khiday, an archaeological site near the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/29558-the-worlds-longest-rivers.html">Nile River</a> in central Sudan. The skeletons date back to between about 6,700 B.C., when prehistoric people relied on hunting and gathering, to agricultural times, at about the beginning of the first millennium B.C.</p>
<p>The researchers collected samples of the individuals' dental calculus, the hardened grime that forms when plaque accumulates and mineralizes on teeth. Such buildup is fairly common in prehistoric skeletons, the researchers said. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/29594-earths-most-mysterious-archaeological-discoveries-.html">The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth</a>]</p>
<p>"The <a href="http://www.livescience.com/40195-oral-health-body.html">oral hygiene</a> activities were not as good as they are today," lead researcher Karen Hardy, a professor of prehistoric archeology at the Instituci&oacute; Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avan&ccedil;ats and Universitat Aut&ograve;noma de Barcelona in Spain, told Live Science.</p>
<p>An analysis of the chemical compounds and microfossils in the dental calculus point to the purple nutsedge (<em>Cyperus rotundus</em>), Hardy said. In the teeth of each of the skeletons, Harder and her colleagues found starch granules that share a chemical composition with nutsedge. A close look at the granules also revealed how these people likely prepared their food: Those from the earlier time period likely ate the plant raw or lightly heated, which would have helped make the roots easier to peel.</p>
<p>In contrast, granules from the Neolithic period, beginning in about 4,500 B.C. in central Sudan, are cracked and enlarged, suggesting that people may have ground or roasted these granules over a fire.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/53c6f2a269bedddb7ef996b5-300-422/tooth-plaque.jpg" border="0" alt="tooth plaque prehistoric paleo food" width="200" />It's difficult, however, to determine how prehistoric people prepared their meals based on the present appearance of <a href="http://www.livescience.com/43619-microbial-pompeii-found-on-ancient-teeth.html">starch granules</a>, said John Dudgeon, an associate professor of anthropology at Idaho State University in Pocatello, who was not involved in the study. Further research may help scientists determine whether the food was roasted or boiled, or if it simply degraded on its own.</p>
<p>"Starches are particularly sensitive," Dudgeonsaid. They fall apart as soon a person begins chewing on them. "The fact that they even survive in the dental calculus in the teeth is amazing."</p>
<p>However, he commended the researchers for their detailed work in matching the chemical analysis of the purple nutsedge to the fragments found in the dental calculus. "It provides a novel way to look at the micro-residues on the skeleton," Dudgeon said. "This a pretty good way to fingerprint what that material is that is coming out of the calculus."</p>
<p>It's unclear why prehistoric people chewed on the tubers, but other ancient societies have benefited from the plant's many uses. Hunter-gatherer societies, such as the Aboriginals in central Australia, relied on these tubers for <a href="http://www.livescience.com/36855-good-carbs-bad-carbs-what-you-need-to-know.html">carbohydrates</a>, and studies show that the plant contains lysine, an essential amino acid that the human body cannot produce on its own.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.livescience.com/27952-skeletal-finds-ancient-egyptian-cemetery.html">ancient Egyptians</a> and Greeks used purple nutsedge for water purification, perfume and medical purposes, records suggest. What's more, the plant has antimicrobial, antimalarial, antioxidant and anti-diabetic compounds, studies have found.</p>
<p>In high concentrations, purple nutsedge also inhibits a type of bacteria that leads to tooth decay.This may explain why researchers have found fewer <a href="http://www.livescience.com/44223-cavities-tooth-decay.html">cavities</a> in the Al Khiday individuals at the turn of the first millennium B.C., compared to their counterparts at Gabati, an archeological site to the north, Hardy said. Still, more research is needed to examine indicators of dental hygiene in these areas.</p>
<p>Though purple nutsedge and its related sedge species are rich in carbohydrates, modern-day farmers consider these plants a nuisance. The slender-stemmed, flowering nutsedge has deep, tuberous roots that are hard to pull out of soil.</p>
<p>"It&rsquo;s a veggie, weedy thing," Hardy says. "It&rsquo;s very prolific. That's why it's such a problem for farmers today."</p>
<p>Purple nutsedge typically grows in tropical areas. In the 1980s, researchers found that the plant's tubers taste bitter when grown in wet areas, but reported that the taste improved when the weed was planted in drier places. Though the plant is no longer a common carbohydrate snack, people still use it today for herbal medicine in the Middle East, Far East and India, Hardy said.</p>
<p>The results were published today (July 16) in the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0100808">journal PLOS ONE</a>.</p>
<p>Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/laurageggel">@LauraGeggel</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/+LauraGeggel/posts">Google+</a>. Follow Live Science <a href="https://twitter.com/LiveScience">@livescience</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience">Facebook</a> &amp;&nbsp;<a href="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts">Google+</a>. Original article on <a href="http://www.livescience.com/46836-prehistoric-tooth-plaque-diet.html">Live Science</a>.</p>
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<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/41144-5-smile-secrets.html">Smile Secrets: 5 Things Your Grin Reveals About You</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/13637-8-grisly-archaeological-discoveries.html">8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/16750-science-death-archaeology-vampires-zombies.html">The Science of Death: 10 Tales from the Crypt &amp; Beyond</a></li>
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<p>Copyright 2014 <a href="http://www.livescience.com/">LiveScience</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-we-evolved-to-drink-2014-4" >An Evolutionary Explanation For Why Humans Are Hard-Wired To Drink</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-teeth-reveal-the-real-paleo-diet-2014-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/electrical-current-to-heal-cavities-2014-6New Technology Could Take The Drill Out Of The Dentist’s Officehttp://www.businessinsider.com/electrical-current-to-heal-cavities-2014-6
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:37:00 -0400Douglas Main
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53a9f42deab8ea3d6b8b4567-909-682/dentist-teeth-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Dentist teeth" /></p><p>The dentist's drill has long been a source of anxiety for sugar-snacking youths. But a new technique has the potential to treat cavities without drilling, by using a painless electrical current to heal holey choppers.</p>
<p>Researchers at King's College London have developed a technique called Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralzation, in which a device they've dubbed a "healing hand piece" is placed over the site of a cavity. The tool emits a small electrical current that promotes the remineralization of the tooth, driving calcium, phosphate, and other substances back into the enamel, the scientists <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/16/this-new-technology-may-put-an-end-to-drilling-at-the-dentists-office/">told the Washington Post</a> (cavities happen when bacteria break down, or demineralize, the enamel with acid). The technique would take about as much time and cost about the same or less than a traditional filling, and publications describing the technique should be published "in coming months," they said.</p>
<p>The technique could put an end the cycle of filling and re-filling, said King's professor Nigel Pitts. "When we repair a tooth by putting in a filling, that tooth enters a cycle of drilling and re-filling as, ultimately, each 'repair' fails," he <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10901391/The-new-tooth-decay-treatment-that-could-see-fillings-become-an-unpleasant-memory.html">told The Telegraph</a>. But this remineralization procedure only needs to be done once, he added.</p>
<p>A Scottish company called <a href="http://site58218-1374225756.strikingly.com/">Reminova Ltd</a> is trying to commercialize the technology and said it could be available in three years if enough funding is found. It could take slightly longer in the U.S., though, due to the different regulatory environment, the scientists said.</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT1iN2U4N2Q2NjM0YWViY2ZkZmJlZWM0YTA1NWJjODU3OCZub25jZT0yMWQ2NDViNy1mN2M5LTQ4MmUtOWEyOS0yMWMwZTg5NDM0NDAmcHVibGlzaGVyPTczMGViODZhYjU5ZjBkNDE5MjZhYzY1YjAxZjgzZTJm" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/laser-stem-cell-tooth-tissue-regeneration-2014-5" >Scientists Can Regrow Teeth With Lasers</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/electrical-current-to-heal-cavities-2014-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-state-cavity-map-2014-6Here Are The States Where Kids Have The Most Cavitieshttp://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-state-cavity-map-2014-6
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:34:00 -0400Andy Kiersz
<p>Dental health is often hard to maintain, and in some places, this difficulty starts at a young age.</p>
<p>Here are the percentage of third graders who have suffered at some point from tooth decay, based on <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/OralHealth/state_programs/states/index.htm">state-level oral health survey data from the CDC's website</a>:</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/53a20972eab8ea825d4c217f-1200-924/state child cavity map.png" border="0" alt="state child cavity map" /></p>
<p>The southwest has the highest proportion of third graders who have had some form of tooth decay, with 75% of Arizona third graders, 73% of Texas third graders, and 71% of California third graders having tooth decay experience.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, both Connecticut and Massachusetts just had around 41% of their third graders suffering from cavities and tooth decay.</p>
<p>One possible factor in the variation in cavity and tooth decay rates between states is fluoridation of water. Here's a scatterplot connecting the percentage of the population whose water supply is fluoridated (based on data from the CDC's Water Fluoridation Reporting System) with the rate of third graders with tooth decay experience:</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53a300c469beddb657dfb224-800-600/fluoridation vs cavities scatter plot.png" border="0" alt="fluoridation vs cavities scatter plot" /></p>
<p>There is a weak (r<sup>2</sup> = 0.23), but statistically significant (p &lt; 0.01), relationship between fluoride and cavity rates.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-state-cavity-map-2014-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/oral-health-wine-gums-2014-5Red Wine Could Hold The Key To Better Mouthwashhttp://www.businessinsider.com/oral-health-wine-gums-2014-5
Sat, 31 May 2014 11:01:00 -0400Business Insider
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5378fa826bb3f78a54a345f6-1200-800/brushing teeth-1.jpg" border="0" alt="brushing teeth" />Without regular brushing and flossing, teeth accumulate bacterial films that secrete acid and cause cavities (see adjacent article). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">But sometimes even these good habits are insufficient to shift such films, and a chemical called chlorhexidine has to be deployed as well, in the form of a mouthwash. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Chlorhexidine, however, stains teeth and affects people's sense of taste, so an alternative would be welcome. And Victoria Moreno-Arribas of the Institute of Food Science Research in Madrid believes she may have one: a derivative of red wine.</span></p>
<p>Dr Moreno-Arribas knew from previous work that red wine has antimicrobial properties, but she could find few studies which looked at whether it attacks dental biofilms specifically.</p>
<p>To rectify that, she and her colleagues grew five troublesome oral bacteria, Actinomyces oris, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus oralis and Veillonella dispar, on discs of hydroxyapatite, the main component of dental enamel.</p>
<p>They fed the bugs by dipping the discs into solutions of sugar mixed with saliva collected from volunteers, who spent several hours spitting into jars. The results have just been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.</p>
<p>As expected, the bacteria grew to form films on the discs, just as they do on teeth. After a week of such growth the researchers exposed each disc to one of five treatments every day for a further seven days. Some were swished around in red wine (a pinot noir, vintage 2010) for two minutes.</p>
<p>Some were swished in a de-alcoholised version of this wine. Some were swished in chlorhexidine, some in a 12% solution of ethanol (ie, of the same alcoholic strength as the wine) and some in plain water.</p>
<p>This combination of experiments let Dr Moreno-Arribas determine whether wine has antibiofilm properties beyond those bestowed by its alcohol content, and also how well it compares with chlorhexidine.</p>
<p>Sadly for oenophiles, chlorhexidine still came out on top. But wine did well against two of the five species, F. nucleatum and S. oralis. Intriguingly, in the case of S. oralis the de-alcoholised version was even more effective than the full-strength stuff.</p>
<p>To find out which chemicals within the wine were having the desired effect, Dr Moreno-Arribas and her team added wine extracts such as flavanols and yeast polysaccharides to the mix and repeated their experiments. The magic turned out to be provided by a group of chemicals called flavan-3-ols.</p>
<p>Regrettably, this work does not suggest that a nightly glass of wine is a sensible substitute for a thorough dental brushing before you go to bed. But it might, if pursued, allow an alternative to chlorhexidine mouthwash to be developed--perhaps one that does not have such a horrible effect on taste buds.</p>
<p>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT0zYjc0MTBlNDM4ZmY0OGRlMWU1NWZjN2VjNzhjZDVlMiZub25jZT1mM2JkODEyYy04ZGViLTRjYWEtODAwOC01NTE5Nzk0YWE3MTMmcHVibGlzaGVyPTczMGViODZhYjU5ZjBkNDE5MjZhYzY1YjAxZjgzZTJm" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oral-health-wine-gums-2014-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/oral-health-wine-gums-2014-5Oral Health: Wine Gumshttp://www.businessinsider.com/oral-health-wine-gums-2014-5
Sat, 31 May 2014 10:58:53 -0400The Economist
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5378fa826bb3f78a54a345f6-1200-800/brushing teeth-1.jpg" border="0" alt="brushing teeth" />Without regular brushing and flossing, teeth accumulate bacterial films that secrete acid and cause cavities (see adjacent article). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">But sometimes even these good habits are insufficient to shift such films, and a chemical called chlorhexidine has to be deployed as well, in the form of a mouthwash. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Chlorhexidine, however, stains teeth and affects people's sense of taste, so an alternative would be welcome. And Victoria Moreno-Arribas of the Institute of Food Science Research in Madrid believes she may have one: a derivative of red wine.</span></p>
<p>Dr Moreno-Arribas knew from previous work that red wine has antimicrobial properties, but she could find few studies which looked at whether it attacks dental biofilms specifically.</p>
<p>To rectify that, she and her colleagues grew five troublesome oral bacteria, Actinomyces oris, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus oralis and Veillonella dispar, on discs of hydroxyapatite, the main component of dental enamel.</p>
<p>They fed the bugs by dipping the discs into solutions of sugar mixed with saliva collected from volunteers, who spent several hours spitting into jars. The results have just been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.</p>
<p>As expected, the bacteria grew to form films on the discs, just as they do on teeth. After a week of such growth the researchers exposed each disc to one of five treatments every day for a further seven days. Some were swished around in red wine (a pinot noir, vintage 2010) for two minutes.</p>
<p>Some were swished in a de-alcoholised version of this wine. Some were swished in chlorhexidine, some in a 12% solution of ethanol (ie, of the same alcoholic strength as the wine) and some in plain water.</p>
<p>This combination of experiments let Dr Moreno-Arribas determine whether wine has antibiofilm properties beyond those bestowed by its alcohol content, and also how well it compares with chlorhexidine.</p>
<p>Sadly for oenophiles, chlorhexidine still came out on top. But wine did well against two of the five species, F. nucleatum and S. oralis. Intriguingly, in the case of S. oralis the de-alcoholised version was even more effective than the full-strength stuff.</p>
<p>To find out which chemicals within the wine were having the desired effect, Dr Moreno-Arribas and her team added wine extracts such as flavanols and yeast polysaccharides to the mix and repeated their experiments. The magic turned out to be provided by a group of chemicals called flavan-3-ols.</p>
<p>Regrettably, this work does not suggest that a nightly glass of wine is a sensible substitute for a thorough dental brushing before you go to bed. But it might, if pursued, allow an alternative to chlorhexidine mouthwash to be developed--perhaps one that does not have such a horrible effect on taste buds.</p>
<p>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT0zYjc0MTBlNDM4ZmY0OGRlMWU1NWZjN2VjNzhjZDVlMiZub25jZT1mM2JkODEyYy04ZGViLTRjYWEtODAwOC01NTE5Nzk0YWE3MTMmcHVibGlzaGVyPTczMGViODZhYjU5ZjBkNDE5MjZhYzY1YjAxZjgzZTJm" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oral-health-wine-gums-2014-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/laser-stem-cell-tooth-tissue-regeneration-2014-5Scientists Can Regrow Teeth With Lasershttp://www.businessinsider.com/laser-stem-cell-tooth-tissue-regeneration-2014-5
Wed, 28 May 2014 17:36:00 -0400Kevin Loria
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5384d1d06bb3f7fa57dfdb95-800-/arany1hr.jpg" border="0" alt="arany1HR" width="800" /></p><p></p>
<p>Using lasers to regenerate and grow body parts sounds like science fiction, but researchers have just demonstrated that it might be a tranformative tool in medicine &mdash; or at least dentistry &mdash; in the future.</p>
<p>A Harvard-led team just successfully used low-powered lasers to activate stem cells and stimulate the growth of teeth in rats and human dental tissue in a lab. The results were <a href="http://stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.3008234" target="_blank">published today</a> in the journal Science Translational Medicine.</p>
<p>Stem cells exist throughout the body, and they fascinate scientists because they have the ability to become different types of cells &mdash; which means <a href="http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics1.aspx" target="_blank">they have the potential to repair or replace</a> damaged or worn out tissue. Figuring out new ways to make them useful has long been a goal of medical researchers.</p>
<p>Using lasers to make stem cells do their work is particularly appealing, since it's a minimally invasive technique, only requiring light once the damaged area is exposed. Scientists have theorized in the past that this was possible, since lasers have been shown to stimulate growth for unknown reasons, but this is the first time that the process has been demonstrated and observed.</p>
<p>The ability to naturally regrow dental tissue could transform dentistry, making it possible to regrow teeth instead of replacing them with a substitute like porcelain. But even more amazingly, once it's better understood, <strong>this same technique could potentially be used to heal wounds and regenerate bone, skin, and muscle.</strong></p>
<p>The research is in its earliest stages and has not yet been tested on humans, so it's far too soon to say whether these futuristic techniques will ever make it to your local hospital. The treatment possibilities raised by these experiments, however, are exciting to contemplate.</p>
<h2>How it worked</h2>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5384d216eab8ea6d76f4b401-651-602/arany2hr.jpg" border="0" alt="arany2HR" width="300" /></p>
<p>Since the 1960s, doctors have noticed that medical lasers could occasionally stimulate the growth of skin, hair, and other cells. But this is the first time, the researchers write, that the process has been analyzed and understood on a molecular level.</p>
<p>The first step for researchers was to drill holes in two rat molars, exposing the interior of the tooth underneath.</p>
<p>They exposed dentin, which is the harder-than-bone but softer-than-enamel tissue that teeth are mostly made of. Then, they lit up the dentin using a low-powered laser, trying to get the stem cells there to kick into action and start producing more dentin to replace the damaged area.</p>
<p>One molar received the laser treatment, the other did not.</p>
<p>Twelve weeks later, the researchers observed that the dentin in the molar that received treatment was growing again &mdash; the tooth was growing back.&nbsp;<span>(The results were the same when they did the experiment again in mice.)</span></p>
<p>The researchers then tested the same technique on various mammal cells under a microscope. Each time, the laser light caused certain oxygen-containing molecules to appear. Those molecules then caused stem cells to begin their conversion into cells producing dentin, tooth tissue. This showed researchers how lasers can cause tissue to regenerate, which they say had never been seen before.</p>
<p>When tested with human dental stem cells, the effects were similar. The lasers activated the stem cells, which can become many different types of cells, and specifically caused them to start forming dentin.</p>
<p>These three experiments were all focused on the same goal, which was to see if laser light would cause the stem cells in tissue (which had been inactive) to begin the process of generating new tissue. The rat molars showed that it was possible in a living example, while the mammal cells showed exactly how the lasers were working. Using human cells was a way of showing that what was done with rats has the potential to work the same way with human teeth, which the researchers say is the next step in their process.</p>
<h2>Why it's not ready for prime time yet</h2>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/538602516bb3f712214e37df-400-350/73845_web.jpg" border="0" alt="Rat Human Tooth Size" width="400" /></p>
<p>One particular technical challenge of this experiment, according to researchers, was performing oral surgery on tiny rodent teeth. "This is one of those rare cases where it would be easier to do this work on a human," said David Mooney, a professor of bioengineering at Harvard, <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2014-05/wifb-rul052714.php" target="_blank">in the press release</a>.</p>
<p>New rat teeth didn't develop perfectly. There was some extra and unnecessary buildup of tooth tissue, which frequently <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075986/" target="_blank">occurs naturally but can potentially</a> lead to painful conditions that need medical attention, including a root canal. However, researchers expect that in humans it would be possible to better cover up areas not being treated, since human teeth are larger. They say that they could more accurately activate certain growth areas without causing widespread tissue formation, but the process has not yet been tested.</p>
<p>The researchers say that they are currently developing human trials for this technique. If those are successful, this could lead to testing laser treatments that regenerate bone, muscle, and other cells throughout the body.</p>
<p>"We are also excited about expanding these observations to other regenerative applications with other types of stem cells," said Praveen Arany, the study's lead author and an assistant clinical investigator at the National Institutes of Health, in the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2014-05/wifb-rul052714.php" target="_blank">news release</a>.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-restore-movement-to-paralyzed-hand-2014-5" >This Might Be The Cure For Paralysis</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/laser-stem-cell-tooth-tissue-regeneration-2014-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/sugar-teeth-2014-4The Bitter Truth About What Sugar Does To Your Teethhttp://www.businessinsider.com/sugar-teeth-2014-4
Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:02:00 -0400Mike Morgan And Stuart Dashper
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/533c96356da811104907a176-837-418/teeth-x-ray.jpg" border="0" alt="teeth x-ray" /></p><p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been&nbsp;<a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/sugars_public_consultation/en/">consulting on draft sugar intake guidelines</a>&nbsp;that propose revising the recommended daily intake downwards to address obesity and dental disease.</p>
<p>The body says it&rsquo;s particularly concerned about the increasing global consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, including soft drinks and sports drinks.</p>
<p>Current WHO guidelines (published in 2002) recommend sugars should make up no more than 10% of daily total energy intake.</p>
<p>The new draft guidelines suggest revising this to 5% &ndash; the equivalent of around six teaspoons of sugar a day for an average adult. It highlights the&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hidden-sugars-are-pushing-up-your-daily-dose-24417">role of &ldquo;hidden&rdquo; sugars</a>&nbsp;in obesity and how sugar leads to the development of dental disease.</p>
<p>The WHO describes dental diseases as the most prevalent non-communicable diseases globally. More than 90% of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10737422169">Australian adults have experienced tooth decay</a>&nbsp;and almost 60% of 14-year-olds have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129543387">decay in their permanent teeth</a>. In 2010-11, more than 23,000 Australian children were&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129543387">hospitalized for dental treatment</a>under general anaesthetic &ndash; mostly for treatment of tooth decay.</p>
<p><strong>Sweet tooth</strong></p>
<p>Sugar feeds the bacteria that live on the surface of everyone&rsquo;s teeth, enabling them to rapidly produce acids that dissolve tooth enamel. Known as &ldquo;demineralisation&rdquo;, this process weakens the tooth structure through loss of minerals.</p>
<p>High-frequency sugar intake, coupled with bacterial acids not being removed regularly and properly, will lead to demineralisation to the point of creating cavities. Indeed, it&rsquo;s an eye-opener to see just how quickly sugar damages teeth.</p>
<p>In unpublished laboratory experiments we&rsquo;ve done with colleagues, teeth were given a ten-minute dose of sucrose solution four times a day, without the benefits of tooth brushing or drinking water. It took less than two weeks for cavities to begin to form. More frequent sucrose doses led to cavities appearing sooner.</p>
<p>Even though we have ways to treat cavities, through fillings and tooth removal when necessary, treatments don&rsquo;t eliminate the underlying cause of tooth decay. And too many filled or removed teeth increases a person&rsquo;s risk of future oral health problems, such as difficulty eating effectively when teeth are lost and an ongoing need for more complex fillings.</p>
<p><strong>Tooth-rotting drinks and food</strong></p>
<p>Most Australians know how to avoid dental cavities. If nothing else, they know sugar is bad for teeth and brushing is good. But people are generally not well informed about the sugar content of what they eat and drink.</p>
<p>In many cases, they&rsquo;re not aware that drinks they believe to be healthy are actually damaging to their oral health. Scientists&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=dashper%2C+saion%2C+stacey%2C+manton%2C+cochrane%2C+stanton%2C+yuan%2C+reynolds">comparing the cavity-creating potential</a>&nbsp;of a number of soy milks to cows' milk, for instance, found the former produced decay-causing acid at five to six times the rate of cows' milk &ndash; a damaging recipe for teeth.</p>
<p>Many soft drinks and sports drinks not only contain sugar but also food acids (citric and phosphoric acids) that can cause erosion of tooth enamel when consumed frequently. These food acids are also found in the sugar-free versions of these drinks, so sugar-free soft and sports drinks are not necessarily better for your teeth.</p>
<p>Compounding the problem of the increasing popularity of sweet beverages is the fact that people often drink these instead of plain water. Water is much better for your teeth because it helps rinse away food, liquids, sugar and acids.</p>
<p>More than 90% of Australians have access to fluoridated tap water, which helps to protect teeth against demineralisation, but note that most bottled water has&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=cochrane+saranathan+dashper">only low levels of fluoride</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Not normal</strong></p>
<p>The ubiquity of dental decay may create the impression that oral disease is inevitable and not of serious public concern. But that&rsquo;s not the case. Although most dental disease is preventable, treatment costs the Australian economy&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129544656">$8.4 billion a year</a>.</p>
<p>The cost to individuals is measured in lost teeth, in the inability to maintain a healthy diet into older age, and in the social disadvantage arising from the stigma and embarrassment caused by poor teeth.</p>
<p>There are ways to prevent this beyond the level of the individual. The State of California, for instance, is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/us-usa-sodas-california-idUSBREA1C1K520140213">considering legislation</a>&nbsp;that would make it the first jurisdiction to require warning labels on sugary drinks. Under the proposed bill, beverages with added sweeteners over a certain limit would read:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We can reduce the prevalence of cavities in Australia. The proposed recommendation by the World Health Organisation will provide solid grounds for calling for better community understanding of the amount and forms of sugar we&rsquo;re consuming.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sugar-teeth-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-brush-and-floss-your-teeth-2014-213 Awful Things That Happen If You Don't Brush And Floss Your Teethhttp://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-brush-and-floss-your-teeth-2014-2
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 10:00:00 -0500Lauren F Friedman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52fceafb6da81106374f5308-480-/dentist-teeth.jpg" border="0" alt="Dentist teeth" width="480" /></p><p>Can't ever find the time to take care of your teeth? About <a href="http://www.crest.com/ada-webcast/surveyfindings.pdf" target="_blank">half of Americans don't floss daily</a>, and one in five don't brush twice daily &mdash; so you're not alone.</p>
<p>But you may want to reconsider.</p>
<p>"Taking care of your teeth and gums isn't just about preventing cavities or bad breath," the American Dental Association <a href="http://www.mouthhealthy.org/" target="_blank">warns</a>. "The mouth is a gateway into your body's overall health."</p>
<p>It's almost impossible to prove a cause-effect relationship between dental neglect and various conditions because researchers would have to create a control group that ignored their teeth completely for a long time &mdash; something that would likely be harmful enough to be considered unethical. But there's mounting evidence that shows an association between poor dental hygiene and a wide variety of ills.</p>
<p>You should visit the dentist <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/rethinking-the-twice-yearly-dentist-visit/" target="_blank">at least once a year</a>, and the ADA recommends that you brush twice a day for two minutes and floss once a day. If you choose to ignore their advice, <strong>you'll get cavities</strong>, sure &mdash; but here are 13 other things you're at risk of, some more common than others.</p>
<h2>1. Gum disease</h2>
<p>Most people don't realize this, but your gums are not supposed to bleed when you brush and floss. If yours do, you <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003062.htm" target="_blank">probably have gum disease</a> &mdash; or are at least well on your way. Gingivitis, the milder form of gum disease, makes gums red, swollen, and quick-to-bleed &mdash; part of a response to the bacteria in the plaque that builds up between your teeth and gums. <a href="http://drc.hhs.gov/report/3_1.htm" target="_blank">More than half</a> of Americans have gingivitis.</p>
<p>If plaque spreads, the immune response heightens and can destroy tissues and bones in the mouth, creating pockets between the teeth that can become infected. (Other conditions unrelated to oral hygiene habits can also have these effects.) At this severe stage, gum disease is called periodontitis, and it can become chronic. <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=periodontitis&amp;espv=210&amp;es_sm=91&amp;tbm=isch&amp;tbo=u&amp;source=univ&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=4BD8UtzRDeHz0gGK3YDgCg&amp;ved=0CE8QsAQ&amp;biw=1764&amp;bih=918" target="_blank">Google "periodontitis,"</a> and you might become more vigilant about oral hygiene.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.perio.org/consumer/types-gum-disease.html" target="_blank">American Academy of Periodontology</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23103812" target="_blank">Clinical Calcium, 2012</a></em></p>
<h2>2. Tooth loss</h2>
<p>If you've never worried about losing your teeth, you should start. Adults 20 to 64 have lost an average of seven (permanent) teeth, and <a href="http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/ToothLoss/ToothLossAdults20to64.htm" target="_blank">10% of Americans</a> between 50 and 64 have absolutely no teeth left. Both cavities and gum disease can end in tooth loss.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/ToothLoss/ToothLossAdults20to64.htm" target="_blank">National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research</a></em></p>
<h2>3. Bad breath</h2>
<p>Bad breath, clinically called halitosis, may affect as much as 65% of the population. A number of conditions can have halitosis as a symptom, but the number one by far is poor oral hygiene. Food particles that linger long after meals can start to stink, and the less you brush and floss, the more potentially malodorous bacteria build up in your mouth. The coating on your tongue is also a key contributor to bad breath, and some research has suggested that cleaning your tongue &mdash; along with regular brushing and flossing, of course &mdash; may help reign in this problem.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21140240" target="_blank">Internal and Emergency Medicine, 2011</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22722640" target="_blank">International Journal of Oral Science, 2012</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24165218" target="_blank">Nursing Research, 2013</a></em></p>
<h2>4. Dementia</h2>
<p>A large, long-term study of residents at a Laguna Hills retirement community suggests that there may be a link between poor dental health and dementia, although it's possible that people with better oral hygiene have better health habits in general. Researchers followed 5,468 people for 18 years and found that &mdash; among those who still had teeth &mdash; those "who reported not brushing their teeth daily had a 22% to 65% greater risk of dementia than those who brushed three times daily." In addition, a small study found that the brains of patients with Alzheimer's had more bacteria associated with gum disease than did those belonging to the cognitively healthy.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.04064.x/abstract" target="_blank">Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2012</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23666172" target="_blank">Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2013</a></em></p>
<h2>5. Pneumonia</h2>
<p>When pathogens lurk in your mouth, you inhale them right into your lungs, where they can wreak all kinds of havoc. One major review pointed to this process as the reason for an association between poor oral hygiene and hospital-acquired pneumonia. Improving oral hygiene &mdash; through some methods beyond brushing and flossing in this case &mdash; reduced the incidence of such pneomonia by 40%. Another study of 315 patients in a Brazilian hospital found that those with periodontitis were almost three times as likely to have pneomonia.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14971248" target="_blank">Annals of Periodontology, 2003</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24171504" target="_blank">Journal of Periodontology, 2013</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390255" target="_blank">Gerondontology, 2013</a></em></p>
<h2>6. Erectile dysfunction</h2>
<p>A connection between dental disease and erectile dysfunction may seem remote, but preliminary research suggests that the conditions could be linked. They both have been tied to Vitamin D deficiency, smoking, and general inflammation, but the exact reason for the association is still a mystery. One study in rats found that periodontitis impaired penis function. While it's unclear whether the same direct effects would be found in humans, in a group of patients between 30 and 40, 53% of those with erectile dysfunction had severe periodontitis, while only 23% of those without ED did. "We think that it will be of benefit to consider periodontal disease as a causative clinical condition of ED in such patients," the authors wrote.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02361.x/abstract" target="_blank">The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2011</a>; <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02974.x/abstract" target="_blank">The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2012</a>; <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpe.12039/abstract" target="_blank">Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 2012</a></em></p>
<h2>7. Brain abscess</h2>
<p>Often caused by bacterial infection, an abscess is a collection of pus, with swelling and inflammation around it. In the brain, it is <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000783.htm" target="_blank">fatal if left untreated</a>. "A poor dental condition, notably destructive periodontal disease, can be a risk for life-threatening" disease in other parts of the body, noted a team of scientists who pinpointed a patient's extremely poor dental health as the likely cause of his life-threatening brain abscess. Brain abscesses are rare, and there has been no systematic study linking them to bad dental hygiene. But the authors noted at least 12 other case reports of brain abscess that pointed to poor dental hygiene as the probable cause.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21539594" target="_blank">Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 2011</a></em></p>
<h2>8. Diabetes</h2>
<p>Dentists have long known that diabetes is a risk factor for periodontitis, but now research is beginning to indicate that the relationship may be bidirectional. Extremely poor dental health may also be a risk factor for insulin resistance (often called "pre-diabetes") and diabetes, largely because it increases inflammation. Some studies have even indicated that in patients with both conditions, reigning in periodontitis may improve diabetes control.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9722690/" target="_blank">Annals of Periodontology, 1998</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20103557/" target="_blank">Diabetes Care, 2010</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3530710/" target="_blank">Diabetes &amp; Metabolism Journal, 2012</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3881811/" target="_blank">Journal of Applied Oral Science, 2013</a></em></p>
<h2>9. Kidney disease</h2>
<p>About 3.7% of U.S. adults have chronic kidney disease, but certain people are more at risk. People with periodontal disease were 4.5 times more likely to have chronic kidney disease, making poor dental health a stronger predictor for CKD than high cholesterol. Adults with no remaining teeth were also 11 times more likely to have chronic kidney disease. While dental disease is not the strongest risk factor &mdash; people older than 60 are 27 times more likely to have chronic kidney disease than younger people, for example &mdash; another study confirmed that periodontitis may be a significant risk for kidney disease, even after controlling for underlying health conditions that contribute to both.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18155532/" target="_blank">American Journal of Kidney Disease, 2008</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649736/" target="_blank">Journal of Periodontology, 2010</a></em></p>
<h2>10. Heart disease?</h2>
<p>Multiple studies have suggested that there may be a connection between gum disease and heart disease, both of which are associated with inflammation. "Adding oral health self-care... is prudent to improve patients' oral health and possibly reduces [coronary heart disease]," concluded one study. "Periodontal disease caused by pathogen bacteria... could represent one of several possible causal factors of heart disease," concluded another.</p>
<p>The authors of a 2008 review for the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended that periodontal disease be considered a marker of risk for heart disease, independent of traditional risk factors &mdash; even though they noted a lack of evidence demonstrating a causal relationship.</p>
<p>But a scientific statement from the American Heart Association in 2012 urged caution: Periodontal disease and heart disease share many underlying risk factors; there's no reason to think that dental problems directly cause heart disease; and treating periodontitis reduces inflammation but does nothing to alter the course of heart disease, the authors concluded.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2596495/" target="_blank">Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2008</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20948377" target="_blank">Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension, 2010</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22313976" target="_blank">General Dentistry, 2012</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22514251" target="_blank">Circulation, 2012</a></em></p>
<h2>11. Pregnancy complications</h2>
<p>Gingivitis affects 60 to 75% of pregnant women, and it's especially important that expectant mothers tend to their teeth. When pregnant women have serious dental problems, their infants are more likely to develop cavities. Poor maternal oral health is also associated with low birth weight and preterm birth, although there's not enough evidence yet to know whether it's an independent risk factor. Researchers suspect that one of two mechanisms may be at play: Either overall inflammation is heightened, or oral bacteria that enter the bloodstream eventually colonize the placenta, causing an inflammatory response.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20955483" target="_blank">Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2010</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22880465" target="_blank">Ginekologia Polska, 2012</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23570802" target="_blank">Dental Clinics of North America, 2013</a></em></p>
<h2>12. Ulcers</h2>
<p>In people with periodontitis, the plaque that forms in the pockets beneath the gum line can become a reservoir for Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that is asymptomatic in most but is responsible for stomach ulcers when it flares up. Helicobacter pylori can be transmitted orally, and large epidemiological studies have found a positive association between periodontitis and a positive test for the bacterium, which is also a risk factor for stomach cancer. Different researchers have come to somewhat different conclusions, but the bacterial pockets that form during periodontitis unquestionably pose a risk for various kinds of bacterial growth and infection.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7672679/" target="_blank">Gut, 1995</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12406813" target="_blank">American Journal of Public Health, 2002</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2952980/" target="_blank">Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 2010</a></em></p>
<h2>13. Cancer</h2>
<p>"Recent evidence suggests that the extent and severity of periodontal disease and tooth loss may be associated with an increased risk of malignant disease," concluded one researcher, after reviewing previous studies suggesting an association between poor oral health and cancer. Gum disease and dental problems are also associated with HPV, which causes up to 80 percent of oral cancers. While smoking is a major risk factor for both gum disease and cancer, a study last year of 3,439 people identified poor oral health as an independent risk factor for HPV, even when smoking habits were accounted for. Other preliminary research has suggested that periodontitis may promote the growth of cancerous cells in the mouth.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20669705">Dental Update, 2010</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3876617/" target="_blank">South Asian Journal of Cancer, 2012</a>; <a href="http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/6/9/917" target="_blank">Cancer Prevention Research, 2013</a></em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-get-enough-sleep-2014-2" >25 Horrible Things That Happen If You Don't Get Enough Sleep</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-brush-and-floss-your-teeth-2014-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/poor-oral-hygeine-linked-to-heart-attacks-2013-11Not Taking Care Of Your Teeth Could Give You A Heart Attack http://www.businessinsider.com/poor-oral-hygeine-linked-to-heart-attacks-2013-11
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 20:58:00 -0500Haroon Siddique
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5296a249eab8ea453fa1daee-480-/brushing-teeth-tongue-1.jpg" border="0" alt="brushing teeth tongue" width="480" /></p><p>Excessive sugar &ndash; not just fat and salt &ndash; in junk food can cause heart disease, experts writing in <a href="http://jrs.sagepub.com/" title="">the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine</a> have warned.</p>
<p>The risk posed by saturated fats and salt are already generally accepted, and sugar has been blamed for fuelling obesity, but the editorial, published on Thursday, says that a link between poor oral health and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been demonstrated by a "convincing evidence base".</p>
<p>Co-author Dr Ahmed Rashid, from the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge, said: "It's an additional mechanism by which junk food can elevate your risk of having a heart attack. We know that junk food causes heart disease, we assume it's through salt and fat but people don't mention sugar, or if they do it is in terms of obesity".</p>
<p>Gum disease, which can be triggered by excess sugar consumption, can prompt an inflammatory response that leads to CVD through a process called atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, the paper says.</p>
<p>It points out that "free sugars", which includes those added by manufacturers and present naturally in honey and fruit juices, in fizzy drinks and other junk foods are "particularly potent drivers" of gum disease.</p>
<p>"The UK population should be encouraged to reduce fizzy drink intake and improve oral hygiene," said Rashid. "Reducing sugar consumption and managing dental problems early could help prevent heart problems later in life."</p>
<p>Sugar has already been blamed this year as being <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/20/sugar-deadly-obesity-epidemic" title="">the real villain behind the obesity epidemic</a>, by a US doctor, who described it as "addictive and toxic". But <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/198931/National_Service_Framework_for_Coronary_Heart_Disease.pdf" title="">the latest UK guidance on the prevention of CVD at population level mentions the reduction of sugar only indirectly (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>The paper says that the association between oral health and CVD "suggests that reducing sugar consumption may be a particularly important target for future health policy in this area".</p>
<p>Tracy Parker, heart health dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, which <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/31/20percent-tax-sugary-drinks-cut-obesity" title="">has said a 20% tax on sugary drinks would reduce obesity</a>, said: "A diet full of junk food can have all sorts of unhealthy consequences. As well as being high in salt and saturated fat, which can increase your blood pressure and cholesterol, processed foods and fizzy drinks are often packed with sugar. Too much sugar is bad news for your teeth and gums."</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/poor-oral-hygeine-linked-to-heart-attacks-2013-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>